


Sailor Moon Time Loops

by Nuthenry2



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Darkingfire, Innortal, Innortal time loop, Time Loop, not mine, redistribution not theft, reposting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 06:10:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuthenry2/pseuds/Nuthenry2
Summary: this is a repost form space battles because i wanted to read sailor moon time loop, but is could only find a copy on space battles that have not threads marks. so i went through the entire thread and copied the down all the snips (i think i got then all) i did not make any of the snips. the thread been dormant for 4 years, so i don't think any one will Complain about thistl;dr not minesource thread: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/sailor-moon-time-loops.275977/





	Sailor Moon Time Loops

this is a repost form space battles because i want to read sailor moon time loop but is could only find a copy on space battles that have not threads marks. so i went through the entire thread and copied the down all the snips (i think i got then all) i did not make any of the snips. the thread been dormant for 4 years, so i don't think any one will Complain about this

Loop mechanics (general):

One person in a Loop, often the main character, is an Anchor. They are the person who first starts time looping.  
There is always at least one Anchor present in a given Time Loop snippet, though it may not be the local one.  
The standard pattern for a loop is that the Anchor (and whoever else is Looping there) come to awareness in a loop at a particular point in the story. From there, events will play out as influenced by the Loopers present, acting with the benefit of their foreknowledge, until either a predetermined end point is reached or all the Loopers have copped it.  
To be Awake is to be aware of the time loops (that is, to have gone back in time this time.)  
The Anchor is the only character guaranteed to be Awake. Even after others have started looping, it is mostly random as to whether they will be Awake this particular loop.  
Crossovers, fusions, and alternate pasts can also take place. It is perfectly possible, for example, to have the characters Awaken into a loop which conforms to a fanfic universe rather than reality.  
Loops do not have to be in chronological order, but it is strongly preferred that they not require a mutually contradictory order (where A must be before B and B must be before A.)  
Just about every Looper is very, very stir crazy.

Loop 1:1

"Hey! Watch it!" King Endymion caught the smaller blond girl before she could barrel into him, "What's the ru- Serenity?"

Huge blue eyes shot to his face, and a gigantic grin broke out across the girl's face.

"Endymion?" she asked, studying his face.

Endymion nodded, "Serenity, what's going on? Why are you so young? What happened to Crystal Tokyo?"

"It's Usagi still, Mamo-chan." She said, tugging herself gently out of his grasp, "I'm so happy you're awake now!"

Lacing her fingers through his, Usagi tugged Mamoru down the street toward the Crown Arcade, chattering happily about all the cool pranks they could play together now that he was awake, and she was so happy, because now she didn't have to put up with his stupid machoness and trying to protect her, and Rei was going to be sooo jealous and was this his first time Looping?

The actual question jolted Mamoru back to reality, and he realized that she'd situated them in one of the more isolated booths and a steaming cup of coffee rested in front of him.

"What?" He asked, and Usagi was off again, explaining about how there was some weird kind of time loop going on, and she was something called an Anchor, but this was the first time she'd ever met him while he was Awake.

"Wait, so, what happened to Crystal Tokyo?" he asked, and Usagi smiled brightly at him.

"It hasn't happened yet. I thought maybe Makoto could be Neo-Queen Serenity this time."

Mamoru gaped at Usagi, who simply smiled beatifically at him.

Loop 1:2

Neo-Queen Serenity, ruler of Crystal Tokyo, devoted wife and mother, and former Sailor Moon rolled over and promptly fell off her bed.  
A yelp was muffled by the blankets that had decided to join her on her exodus, and a stream of curses coloured the air as she fought her way out of the tangle of blankets.  
With a final shout of triumph, Serenity tore herself free of the blankets, leaping to her feet and preparing to jump on her husband for laughing at her when she noticed something.  
This was not the royal bedroom in the Crystal Palace.  
It wasn't even the honeymoon suite that she and Endymion used on their anniversary.  
Face pale, Serenity turned in a circle, taking in the pink walls and piles of stuffed animals.  
Even after a thousand years, Serenity could recognize her old room.  
"Usagi!" Ikuko Tsukino's strident voice drifted up the stairs, "You're going to be late!"  
The word 'late' seemed to flip a switch in her head, and suddenly Neo-Queen Serenity was simply Usagi, rushing around the room in a panic as she pulled her hair into her customary odangos and found the least wrinkled uniform she could.  
"I'mlateI'mlateI'mlaaaaaate!"  
Apparently blind panic could be useful, because five minutes later the blond was brushed, dressed, and bolting out the front door, following the route that was both vaguely remembered, and as familiar as if she'd run it yesterday.  
Which, her brain told her, she had.  
Still, existential crises later. Right now she had to get to school befo-  
Yowling, hissing, and laughter pulled her to a screeching stop and drew her into a nearly empty parking lot where a group of elementary school kids were huddled around something black on the ground.  
"Hey!"  
Startled, the kids moved enough for Usagi to get a glimpse of what they'd been tormenting, and she gasped in indignant fury.  
"Leave that cat alone!"  
The kids scattered, and Usagi strode forward to scoop up the black cat.  
"Hey there Luna." She murmured, carefully peeling the adhesive bandage from her advisor's forehead.  
The Mau stared at her for a moment, then wriggled her way free and leapt over to the roof of a nearby car, watching her contemplatively.  
"Oh come on Luna, I don't have time for you to be all mysterious and junk. I know you can talk." Usagi's foot was beating out an impatient rhythm on the asphalt and she crossed her arms.  
"You can remember me?" Luna said hesitantly, and Usagi threw her arms up into the air.  
"Yes! You were my advisor for centuries, how could I forget!?"  
Luna's eyes widened and she bowed quickly, "Your Majesty, I-"  
Usagi waved her off, "Don't worry about it. Do you know what's going on?"  
"The D-" Luna was cut off by Usagi's head whipping around, the distant pealing of a bell just barely audible.  
"Shit!"  
Luna watched bemusedly as her Queen raced away, her golden pigtails flying.  
\-----  
Using every scrap of diplomacy at her disposal, Usagi barely managed to escape being locked out of the house for her bad math grade, and wasn't at all surprised to find Luna sitting on her bed, waiting for her.  
Dropping her bookbag with a thump, she motioned for the mau to begin her report, and changed into her favourite set of soft, flannel pyjamas as she listened.  
"Central Control has informed me that the Dark Kingdom has begun to collect energy in greater quantities than ever before. They have informed me that the Sailor Scouts will likely awaken soon, and I am to find and guide them in their search for the Princess. The Dark Kingdom have so far limited their obvious attacks to London, in England, but signs point to much more subtle incursions here in Tokyo."  
Usagi frowned as Luna continued to fill her in, in much greater detail than she remembered from the first time this had happened.  
Luna was acting like this was the first time. As if Beryl and Metalia were only just beginning to regain their strength from when Queen Serenity had sealed them away. But Luna had called her 'Majesty' and seemed to recognize her...  
"Luna," Usagi interrupted, "do the words Crystal Tokyo ring any bells?"  
The black cat paused, taken aback. "No?" she said, "Should they, your Majesty?"  
Usagi smiled, "No, don't worry about it. Proceed."  
Inwardly, she was cackling with glee. This was priceless. Somehow she'd gone back in time to when Luna had first met her, and by acting like Luna should know her, she'd made the Mau think that Usagi was actually Queen Serenity!  
She would definitely have to get Setsuna something nice for her birthday.

Loop 1.3

"Fuck, I'm in Usagi's loop." Ranma swore as he watched Usagi fight a youma.

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!" The girl yelled as she spat a high pressure stream of water at the fire using youma.

"Huh, she remembered she could do that. Maybe she's improved." he watched the battle for a few moments more. "Meh I'm gonna mess with her anyway." reaching into his pocket he pulled out a green jumpsuit and flash stepped behind a hidden Tuxedo Kamen before quickly knocking him out with a pressure point.

Unnoticed by Ranma a blue and green transformation pen appeared in his pocket.

Loop 1.4

"No, no more of your fancy gizmo until your math grades are better, young lady," to Usagi's horror, her mother had silently sneaked up to her room and snatched her transformation brooch right out of her hand, "What is this? Some sort of fake gem phone you use to talk to your friends instead of studying?"

Ikuko Tsukino examined the little device in her hand, "What is it you say when you answer the call? Moon Prisim Power Make Up?"

There was a burst of light and a large transformation sequence.

Usagi just stared in horror as her mother became a magical girl.

Said mother looked herself over very carefully. Her pale blue hair was flowing as if in a magical wind, "So this is alien magic or something? Oh, maybe I could be hero of truth and justice like Sailor V while you make sure you finish your homework. I could call myself a Magical Inner-planet Lady Fighter!"

Usagi's eyes widened as she slowly realized what the acronym of what her mother called herself was.

Her horrified scream could be heard from blocks away.

Loop 1.5 (Young Wizards Series)

https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/12390648/

Usagi opened her eyes, luxuriating in the sunlight that was shining through the wide bay window of her bedroom.  
Apparently she worked with a television network to sell commercial airtime? But there was something else, drifting at the edges of her memory. Something else involving time.  
Something seemed off about that thought, but before she could look closer at the wrongness, a door slammed open and several dogs started barking.  
Groaning, she levered herself out of bed and threw on a tee-shirt and jeans, heading towards the living room and the shouting therein.  
Ami was, apparently, her roommate in this loop, and the blue haired woman had a decidedly odd expression on her face as she alternated between looking at the phonebook she held in one hand and the gorgeous scarlet macaw that was sitting on her shoulder.  
"Any idea what's going on?" Usagi asked her friend, who shrugged the shoulder the macaw, Peach, was not sitting on.  
"We're Wizards," Ami informed her calmly, "When you get a chance you'll need to take a look at your Manual."  
And with that cryptic little statement, Ami swept into the living room.  
Silence fell like a brick, and Usagi followed Ami into the room, looking curiously at the two preteens that were staring suspiciously at the two women.  
"Where are Tom and Carl?" the girl demanded, and Usagi smiled slightly as she saw the boy tense slightly.  
"Tom and Carl usually live here?" Ami asked, glancing around the room, "We're replacing them just for this Loop. Are one of you the anchor?"  
The girl relaxed a bit. "So they'll be back after we reset again?" she asked, and Usagi nodded cheerfully.  
"I'm Usagi Tsukino. According to my Loop memories, I sell commercial time!"  
"Ami Mizuno." Ami said, absently scritching the macaw at the back of its neck, "Apparently I write novels and create new spells."  
"Nita Callahan," the girl said, hefting an older looking book in one hand and smiling at the two women, "I'm the first person that started having time travel issues. This is my best friend Kit. This is only his second time coming back. Do you know anything about these time loops? Nothing in the Manual comes close to explaining what's been going on."  
Usagi fled, leaving Ami to explain the Loops and the multiverse to the two kids as she went up to her room to change. It wasn't until she'd pulled her hair up into her customary odangos that she noticed the leather bound phonebook sitting on her dresser.  
Picking the book up, Usagi frowned. Was this the manual Ami had mentioned? Hmming thoughtfully, Usagi flipped the book open, and landed at a page that had nothing but a single block of type on it.  
"In Life's name, and for Life's sake..." Usagi murmured, reading the Oath softly to herself and smiling softly at the concepts the vow made certain the Oath Taker would agree with.  
With the last word of the Oath spoken, a hoard of memories poured into her head, released from the block that had been on them. Reeling, Usagi plopped back onto her bed, waiting for the memories of Wizardry to slot themselves around the memories she'd already cataloged.  
"Huh." she finally said, and flipped open the Manual to check her rating. To her great relief, she was still listed as an Advisory. Apparently retaking the Oath was enough to reassure the Powers that Be that she was still the same person.  
Curious, she flipped a few pages and found Nita's listing.  
Huh... well that was interesting.  
Nita had only gotten her Manual yesterday, but her power levels were already post Ordeal, and the Manual was listing her as a Journeyman and available for consultation, rather than on Ordeal.  
A quick glance proved that Kit was the same, and Usagi took a moment to skim Ami's listing as well before heading back downstairs to figure out how to mess with an entirely new style of magic.

Loop 1.6

*in the recently built Holodeck of Futures Past, set to look like an old fashioned movie theater.*

The bucket of popcorn flew through the air and landed on top Luna as Usagi and Asuka gasped for breath, inter-spaced with giggles.  
"Come on Hermione, you HAVE to tell us how you got Harry to give up that memory." Haruka gasped as she fought to get her own laughter under control.  
"Who says he gave it up?" the bushy haired looper asked, one corner of her mouth twitching upward. Silence descended on the room for a moment before the laughter returned with a vengeance.

"So that's why you girls warded the door." Another voice came from the back of the theater. Looking back they froze like deers in the headlights under the gaze of an unamused Ranma and Naruto; both in female form.  
"Shit." Hermonie swore as she felt the wards collapse and the male anchors filed into the room.

Loop 1.7 (ish)

Sailor Mercury stared as Sailor Jupiter ran her fingers through her short, curly red hair and came up with a fistful of lightning, which was promptly thrown at the nearest youma. She only had a moment to boggle, however, since the new, dark skinned Sailor Mars was wading into the fray; lashing out with the ebony staff she carried everywhere with her.  
Sailor Moon was standing off to one side, a frayed square of fabric in her gloved fingers as she watched the battle. As soon as Jaedite appeared, however, the dark haired girl moved, tugging threads out of the square and grinning as the Dark General's clothes fell off him in tatters.  
"You know," Tuxedo Mask remarked casually, tossing a rag ball full of seeds up at the cursing General, who tried to dodge only to get caught by the thorny vines that sprouted from the ball in midair. "I thought this would be a lot harder than it's turning out. I wonder how Usagi's doing?"  
Ami put Jaedite out of his misery with a blast of ice and shrugged at Tux.  
\-----  
"I hate meditating!" Usagi wailed, only for Rei to slap an ofuda across her mouth, silencing her.  
Thank Mila of the Grain. Rosethorn thought. Another few seconds of that high pitched wail and she would have strangled the blond herself, temple vows or no temple vows.

Loop 1.8

It was a year and a half since Luna was supposed to have shown up to give her the transformation brooch, and Usagi hadn't seem hide nor hair of the black Mau. The fact that she hadn't seem hide nor hair of a youma was a small comfort.

She was bored, darnit! There were supposed to be monsters around to fight, and yummy handsome reborn lovers around. This was just too much. After that last Eikan Loop, she'd been looking forward to the exorbitant amounts of violence she could unleash against the youma!

Finally the waiting got to be too much, and she pulled the Eternal Moon Article out, transforming in a flash of light and teleporting straight into Beryl's throne room.

"It's about time you showed up!" the familiar voice threw Usagi, and for a moment she simply gaped at the sight of Setsuna lounging indolently in the garish throne Beryl usually inhabited. Beryl herself was sitting on a cushioned chair to Setsuna's left, with a large bowl of grapes that she was offering, one at a time, to Setsuna.  
"Beryl dear, go take a break." Setsuna commanded, and without a word, the red-headed sorceress vanished, the grapes and her chair going with her.  
"What. The absolute. Fuck." Usagi said flatly, and Setsuna began to laugh.  
"Oh, your face is priceless!" the green haired woman cackled, waving a wand and conjuring a seat for Usagi.  
Usagi scowled, and sat as Setsuna began to explain.  
Five minutes later, Usagi was on the floor, clutching her stomach as she laughed.  
"So you're saying that you offed Metalia years ago? And Beryl thinks that Metalia just took human form and you're her?"  
Setsuna nodded, her expression so smug it should have been outlawed. "Bitch does everything I tell her to. I swear I could so get used to this."

Loop 2.1

Chibi-Usa pouted at her future mother, scowling with all the ferocity she could muster.  
"I don't want to go back to the future." she repeated, stomping one foot, "It's boring, and I hate it. Mommy always makes me wear dresses, and I'm not allowed to help cook, and I have to do ettiquette lessons and I hate them!"

Usagi sighed, crouching down to cuddle her future daughter. "I know you don't like it, but Setsuna gets mad when we mess with the timeline too much. Remember what she did last time we completely averted Crystal Tokyo?"

Chibi-Usa held herself stiff, unwilling to cave this time. "It's not fair! You don't have to do all this stuff!"

"Usa-chan, sweetie, you need to go back. We've already put it off as long as we can."

The pink haired girl tore herself free, "I said I don't wanna! And you can't make me!"

Glowing and golden, the crescent moon on Chibi-Usa's forehead flickered into existence, then inverted and dimmed, sucking light into itself rather than emitting it.

"HA!" Dark Lady crowed, "I knew I'd figure out how to do that eventually!"

Usagi scowled and climbed back to her feet. "Really? You're really going to go evil just so you don't have to go back to the future?"

"Yup!" Dark Lady chirped, and smiled hugely as she faded from view, the toothy smile lingering until it was just hanging on its own in midair.

"That damn cat was a bad influence..." Usagi muttered, waving her hand to dispel the fading smile faster.  
"At least this is more interesting than trying to get back together with Mamoru, again."

Grumbling about her non-looping boyfriend-slash-husband-slash-lover, Usagi flashed up into Eternal Sailor Moon and focused on the faint connection the two Sailor Moons had with each other, a product of the multiple Ginzuisho each of them had.

"D-Point? What's she doing there?" Usagi cocked her head, then shrugged, took a step forward and spun in place, vanishing with a crack of in-rushing air.

Deep inside the destroyed halls of Beryl's castle, Dark Lady lounged idly on an icy throne, staring down at the redhead that knelt at the base of the dais the throne sat on.

"You know what to do now, correct?" She asked, her garnet colored eyes intent on the revived witch, who bowed her head in a nod.

"I do."

"Then go."

Beryl vanished silently, and Dark Lady spent a moment staring idly at the space the ex-queen of the Dark Kingdom had occupied before standing and vanishing again.

The Dark Kingdom would rule all, with Dark Lady as it's Queen. It would just have to take the long route before she could overthrow Crystal Tokyo with its might.

Usagi arrived in the throne room just in time to catch a streamer of pink hair vanish in midair, and groaned.

Really? Chibi-Usa wanted to play teleporting hide-and-seek now!?

Loop 2.1 (cont.)

Chibi-Usa/Dark Lady felt the multitude of Ginzuisho that heralded her mother's approach drawing near, and smiled slightly, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet for a moment before teleporting again. This time she flickered, teleporting several times in a row before stopping at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Garnet eyes flickered around, taking in the tourists that mobbed the tower on a regular basis. This would be the perfect place.

The Ginzuisho were approaching again and Dark Lady politely asked gravity to ignore her for the time being. Gravity obliged, and she began to float, watching the space where she was sure Sailor Moon would appear intently.

A crackling bolt of black energy nearly took off the blond's head as she materialized. Usagi barely managed to snag the bolt before it could blow a hole in the floor of the viewing platform, and, wincing as the caustic energy burned her hand, she crushed it out of existence. Another bolt flew at her, and once again, she barely managed to dodge. This time the bolt hit one of the people that had been standing behind her, and Usagi watched, horrified, as the woman shrieked in agony, then collapsed.

Glittering white wings extended, and Usagi, too, asked gravity to ignore her for a bit. With a grumble, gravity complied, and a blond missile rocketed into the air, a fist cocked. Dark Lady dodged effortlessly upward, knee-dropping Eternal Sailor Moon between her wings as she passed below.

"What the hell, Chibi-Usa!?" Eternal Sailor Moon shouted as gravity reasserted itself over both of them. "Get off me!"

"No!" Dark Lady shouted, pulling one of the blond streamers that had been whipping at her face. "I won't go back to the future! I won't I won't I WON'T!"

At the last word, they hit the ground, the impetuous driving Sailor Moon several inches into the ground. An earth shattering punch from Dark Lady drove Sailor Moon further into the impact crater and threw Dark Lady back into the air.

"That. Is. Enough!" Silver light flowed from Sailor Moon's prone form, swirling around her as she climbed back to her feet. "I understand that you don't want to go back, but if you really want to learn to cook, or not have ettiquette lessons, or any of that other stuff, then don't tell me about them! What part of 'stable time loop' do you not understand? If I know it happens, then I have to make it happen!"

Dark Lady blanched, staring at Sailor Moon. "I never..." the pink haired woman murmured, "That never... I just thought... and you... awww hell..."

Sailor Moon slapped her forehead, "You're kidding right? You never thought of that? It never actually occured to you, did it?"

"Not really?" Dark Lady said sheepishly, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers as she looked anywhere but at Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon groaned, and lifted back up into the air as Dark Lady blurred back into Chibi-Usa. "Come on, you need to fix that woman up before we head back."

"'Kay." Chibi-Usa replied, taking Sailor Moon's hand as they drifted back up to the observation platform she had nearly destroyed. It was the work of moments to wake the woman back up and apologize to everyone on the platform for the fright. Autographs were signed and hugs given, and finally Sailor Moon lifted Chibi-Usa into her arms, settling the little girl on her hip as they prepared to teleport away.

Garnet eyes found the woman who had been struck by the dark bolt, and for a brief moment the woman's eyes seemed to suck in the ambient light. Childish lips turned up in a terrifyingly dark smirk, and Sailor Moon and Chibi-Usa vanished.

Loop 2.2 MLP (crossover)

Princess Luna did not usually consider herself an experienced Looper. She knew that her sister had experienced more lives than her own count, let alone the sheer number that the Elements of Harmony had lived. She was slightly afraid to ask Twilight Sparkle how old she was, for she had little doubt that the (usually) unicorn Anchor was possibly her elder by now.

Almost all of Luna's loops took place in an Equestria much like the long-ago baseline, so she had long since grown used to Awaking on the moon, a far cry from the horror and panic she had felt the first time she had been returned to her prison. Still, the rare instances where she found herself coming to anywhere else were a pleasant change of pace.

Even when she Awoke in a dirty alley with a too-bright morning sun in her eyes, like this Loop. Although she was in her accustomed alicorn form, the architecture surrounding her was enough to tell that this was probably some variation on the human world.

“...is that a horse?” The trio of human males staring at her may have also been a small clue.

“Be quiet,” Luna ordered. “I am trying to figure out who I am.” Loop memories could be tricky sometimes, but these were fragmentary even for that and trying to figure them out was rapidly giving her a headache.

“...a talking horse?” one of the humans asked.

“I said, be quiet!” Luna roared, and the humans scattered. She took a calming breath and tried to make sense of her new memories. She was... a survivor of a lost, ancient kingdom on the moon? Fair enough. She had some kind of mission too... the old enemy that had destroyed her people was returning, and it was her duty to defend the Earth against them. Check.

Now, how was she supposed to do that? Luna searched her scattered Loop memories.

“...find the Moon Princess?” she asked herself aloud. A little worried, she turned her head and was relieved to see her familiar mark on her flank. “That was easy,” she said. “Now what?”

A commotion at the entrance of the alleyway made her raise her head again. She took one look at the murmuring crowd of humans, then transformed herself to shadow and escaped. If this – maddeningly vague in her Loop memories – enemy really was out there searching for her, discretion would be the better part of valor for the moment.

That discretion lasted only until the early evening, when Luna was stirred from her nap on a high rooftop after a long day spent searching without luck for Twilight Sparkle. There was the crawling sensation of a dark presence nearby, and it reminded her just a little of how Nightmare Moon's magic had felt in one of the rare loops where they were separate ponies. Before she even had a chance to consider Luna was in the air, searching for the abomination.

She had a duty to protect her subjects, after all. Even if they weren't her usual subjects, and even if they didn't know they were her subjects yet.

It took only a brief search, and it was only a moment's work after shattering the gem store window with her hooves to dispatch the demon. She had perhaps over-estimated the monster's strength; she'd hoped to interrogate it but was left with only a pile of magically inert dust. She felt a little guilty for a moment, but she was uncertain the creature had been sentient to begin with, and it had been threatening a young human filly. Girl. Whatever.

She checked the human – fainted, like the other humans scattered about the store – and cast a simple charm to ensure restful dreams before she was interrupted.

“Who... what are you?” the male voice asked from above.

Luna looked up to the high window she'd broken, and saw a male, masked human figure in a strange outfit. Possibly the human version of a tuxedo, she decided. “It is polite to give one's own name first,” she returned, stretching her wings. Perhaps this was the person responsible for the monster; she sensed magic on him, unlike any other humans she'd encountered this Loop.

“You talk!” the man exclaimed.

“So do you,” Luna replied archly. She hated these Loops where equines weren't intelligent by default. Perhaps she should do something about that when she had a chance.

“I... I am... Tuxedo Mask,” the man said.

“I see,” Luna said dubiously. She was reasonably sure that wasn't how humans named themselves this Loop. “I am Luna, the Princess of the Moon.”

The man staggered like he'd been hit, raising one hand to his face. “But... you're a horse,” he protested.

“Pony,” Luna corrected.

“I... I need to go,” the man said. His cape swirled, there was a flare of magic, and he was gone.

Luna nodded to herself. Tuxedo guy was definitely suspicious.

***********************************************************************************

Many of her classmates held the strong belief that Ami Mizuno was not human. The debate raged furiously over whether she was a soulless cyborg from the distant future or an inscrutable extrusion of a vast alien intelligence, but even here at cram school there were only a few lonely voices that supported her claim to humanity.

It was perhaps a shame that all the other students were unconscious, because this afternoon – confronted with the unimaginable circumstance of being rescued by what she didn't yet know to call an alicorn princess from an actual demonic monster – she proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was a flesh-and-blood teenage girl.

“You're a pony!” Ami squealed in delight.

“Yes, I am.” The equine paused. “Excuse me.” There was a flash of dark blue light, and the demonic schoolteacher flew back into the wall she'd been bucked into moments previously.

“You're a magic unicorn talking pegasus pony!”

“Do human's foreheads normally glow in this world?” the pony asked.

“...no?” Ami said, suddenly feeling a strange sensation there and being shaken enough from Pony Proximity Euphoria Syndrome into realizing that, perhaps, this situation was slightly unusual. Almost downright unscientific.

“Okay,” the winged creature said. Another flash of blue light revealed a small... pen? “I am Princess Luna,” she said, “and if I can trust these cursed defective memories, you are supposed to be Sailor Mercury, one of the guardian soldiers of the Moon Princess.”

Ami stared at the pony.

“That's me, by the way,” Luna added, apparently considering that the most pressing thing to clarify. Encased in dark light, the pen floated closer to Ami.

There were plenty of really important question she probably should have asked. “Will I get to ride you?” came out instead.

Luna frowned. “I suppose,” she allowed.

Ami's hand, without conscious direction, grabbed the floating pen. “Deal. Umm... Your Highness.”

Behind Luna, the demonic monster stirred again. The equine princess stepped aside. “Show me what you can do,” she ordered.

Ami blinked. Twice. Then the demon jumped for her and instincts she never knew she had made her raise the pen high, words she somehow knew by heart ripping from her throat.

“Well, bubbles,” Luna said a few moments later. “I've seen worse special talents. We can work with that.”

***********************************************************************************

For the first time in countless years stretching beyond the boundaries of this life, the four guardian soldiers of the Moon Princess were gathered. Perhaps they would have been more excited if they hadn't just been fighting for their lives against two of the Generals of the Dark Kingdom.

“Well done, my soldiers!” Luna exclaimed.

“...why do you have a talking horse?” the newly arrived Sailor Venus asked.

“Pony,” Sailor Mercury insisted.

“I am Luna,” the equine in question announced, “the Princess of the Moon.”

Sailor Venus blinked several times. “The h-pony is the Moon Princess?”

“Luna?” another voice interjected. A white blur came down from somewhere and landed on Venus's shoulder.

“...why do you have a talking cat?” Sailor Jupiter asked, her arms crossing.

“Sister?” Luna asked cautiously, staring at the white cat with a golden moon on its forehead. Her accursed, near-useless Loop memories throbbed, like she should have recognized the feline.

Venus giggled. “Sister? I knew there was something you weren't telling me, Artemis.”

The cat swatted at her face with one paw. “I told you, it's not my fault the Greeks got my gender wrong.”

It had been a long shot, but Luna was still disappointed. As far as she could without explaining the Loops to the human girls, she'd searched for any sign that anypony – or even anyone – else was Awake, and had found nothing.

Artemis was now staring at her. “You're... Luna?” he asked.

Luna tried to force her Loop memories to tell her who this cat was supposed to be to her, but came up with nothing. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I do not remember who you are.”

“I'm not sure I remember who you are,” Artemis said. “I... I didn't think you were a horse.”

“Pony,” Sailor Mercury corrected again. Really, she got more offended by that than Luna did herself.

“More importantly,” Venus interjected, glancing at her passenger. “Is she the Moon Princess?”

“Of course I am,” Luna answered. If there was anything she was sure of in this Loop, it was that.

“Really?” Artemis sounded a little dubious. He raised one paw to his head, like he was warding off a headache.

“I could lower the moon now to prove it,” Luna offered – there was no point getting offended, given that the cat's memories of the old kingdom were probably as bad as her own. “It would probably panic the populace though.” She never felt right in these – usually human – loops where the moon and sun just went up and down on their own. It was downright unscientific. “Maybe we could go visit the old castle again?”

“Umm... I don't think that's necessary, Your Highness,” Sailor Mercury said quickly. Luna was a gracious enough ruler to pretend not to notice the warning signs her guardians were giving the newcomer and her cat. Really, forget one lousy oxygen spell and you never live it down.

Sailor Venus seemed to think for a moment, then knelt. Artemis lost his balance, and leaped down to the ground. “I am Sailor Venus, or Minako Aino, Your Highness,” the blonde girl said.

Luna smiled. “Rise, my guardian.”

“Are you sure you're supposed to be a pony?” Artemis whined plaintively.

***********************************************************************************

The time had come for the final battle. It would happen here, in the heart of the Dark Kingdom itself, buried beneath the North Pole. (When Luna recounted the story to Twilight in her next Loop, that bit would send the unicorn on a particularly entertaining rant.) Minor demons scattered, unwilling to face the furious alicorn princess.

“Moon Princess,” the waiting queen said, shadows hanging off of her like physical things. She carried a tall staff, which she tapped on the onyx floor.

“Release your hold on the sun and end this night,” Luna stated coldly, “and some mercy may be shown to you, witch.” The air was thick with dark magic, enough that Luna half-feared to see black corruption staining her flank just from being here.

The ruler of the Dark Kingdom threw back her head and laughed. “Foolish Princess. You think that I could bring back the sun? It is our Great Leader's power that blackens the day, not mine.”

“Then I shall destroy you both,” Luna said.

Her enemy laughed again. “You seek to slay both I and Queen Metallia alone, Princess?”

“Not alone,” Luna said grimly, and she spread her wings. In this place, for once her darkly colored magic shone brightly, and the four she carried hidden underneath them returned to their full size, two on each side. “The guardian soldiers of the Moon Princess,” she proclaimed.

“Sailor Mercury,” one said.

“Sailor Mars.”

“Sailor Jupiter.”

“Sailor Venus.”

“And in the name of the Princess, we will punish you!” the four finished in unison. Artemis had been upset to be left behind, but this was no place for a cat.

The woman they faced just laughed again. “Endymion... kill them.” The shadows surrounding her parted slightly, revealing the man who knelt at her left, kissing her hand.

He rose, drawing a sword. “Yes, Queen Beryl.” Luna was pretty sure she recognized him, and she snorted. She'd known that tuxedo guy was up to no good.

Endymion jumped high in the air, raising his sword for a downward slash. “Girls,” Luna prompted, and her guardians acted.

Sailor Mercury clenched a fist, and a cloud of bubbles shrouded the man's head. Sailor Jupiter met him in midair, dodging the wild, blind swing of his sword and tackling him to the ground, lightning crackling around them. Still blinded, Endymion managed to throw her off but lost a hold of his weapon. Arcs of fire from Sailor Mars's hands pushed him back, and then a golden spear of light from Sailor Venus punched through his chest armor.

The dark warrior gasped, staggered once, then collapsed at his queen's feet. Beryl's hand tightened around her staff. “You,” she snarled.

“He'll live,” Luna said, keeping her voice cold. This wasn't the time for sympathy.

“Just die!” Beryl roared, raising her staff and a hurricane of dark magic swept the room. Luna had barely a moment to shield her friends and then she was caught up in the storm. “Die, Moon Princess!” Beryl shouted again.

Luna called on her own power and the winds stilled. She steadied herself with a beat of her wings and fired a moonlight spear at Beryl. The woman blocked it with a wall of black lightning, but it was only a distraction.

Luna landed smoothly and was relieved to find all four of her guardians standing. “Now,” she said. Each of the four girls pulled out a small, brightly colored gemstone, while Luna summoned the three she'd kept for herself. (She would have to ask Twilight if there had been any Loops with seven Elements of Harmony, as these “Rainbow Crystals” were clearly the local equivalent.)

Beryl's eyes widened. “What,” she started. With practiced ease, Luna called forth the gemstone's power, merging it with the magics summoned by her guardians. The whole vast throne chamber started to shake, and Beryl stepped backward, her staff falling from her hands. “No!”

As if in answer, a ball of white light formed in front of Luna. The dark force saturating this place stirred, but too late. “This ends now,” Luna declared, and the bright magic consumed everything.

It was a strangely intimate thing, and Luna wondered if this was what it was like for Twilight Sparkle when she healed Nightmare Moon. The dark power – the “Great Leader” – Luna scoured from the world, dissolving every last strand of its being; it was utterly inequine and beyond salvation. Yet when she looked in her foes' hearts, she found something different.

Endymion – the tuxedo guy – had been being brainwashed after all. Well, that was easily fixed with this power.

Beryl, though? Madness and betrayed hurt, a lust for power and recognition, callous disregard for the lives of others... all of that and more Luna found. But down in her heart, deep beneath everything, Luna found a girl who wanted to be loved. “Be healed,” Luna whispered and then, more than aware of the irony, she sent the dark queen to slumber on the moon.

The light faded, and when it did the seven Rainbow Crystals were gone. Instead, a single gem floated before her horn.

Endymion, his wounds healed, rose to one knee, staring at it. “The Silver Crystal,” he breathed. “You are the Moon Princess.”

Luna still didn't know why everyone seemed to find that hard to believe. “I am,” she said.

“I... just don't understand,” Endymion said. “Why are you a horse?”

“She's a pony!” Sailor Mercury declared, throwing up her hands. “Why am I the only one who sees that?”

Luna snorted in amusement, but her mind was elsewhere. She had still yet to find a single other Awake soul in this Loop, and if she understood one thing from Twilight Sparkle's explanations, it was that there always must be an Anchor in every loop. Surely Twilight would have found a way to contact her by now, but Luna knew that it was possible for her to enter a fused loop with a different Anchor.

So... where was this Loop's Anchor?  
***********************************************************************************

In her small bedroom, Usagi finished laughing and let the image die on the crystal ball she'd stolen from Beryl... oh, at least a thousand loops prior. She reached down and was sad to discover that the bag of popcorn she'd brought up here was empty.

“I hope you're happy,” a familiar voice came from nowhere.

Usagi turned and watched the green-haired woman step out of thin air. “Oh come on, Puu,” she said, sitting straighter on her bed. “This is hilarious.”

Perhaps a smile flickered briefly on the woman's face, but it was gone a moment later. “You realize that she sets up Endymion with Beryl later.”

Usagi shrugged. “Not the real Mamo-chan, not my problem,” she said. “I've done that a few dozen times. They make a cute couple when she isn't evil.”

Sailor Pluto just stared at her. “You know how much work this is for me.”

“I'll help?” Usagi offered. “Look, I was going to introduce myself, and then she just went and proclaimed herself the Moon Princess! I had to see what was going to happen.”

“Yes, you're going to help,” Sailor Pluto hissed. “Do you have any idea what Crystal Tokyo looks like now?”

“A lot more ponies, I guess?” Usagi proposed.

“Thanks to Mercury's Equine Uplift Project and her Poniform Transformation Spell, yes.”

“The mind boggles,” Usagi asked. “Dare I ask where we're going to get a Chibi-Horse-Luna?”

***********************************************************************************

Luna stood tall and proud atop one of the skyscrapers of this human city, her mane blowing in the wind as she watching over the dreams of the sleepers below. This Loop was still a little strange, but, setting aside the question of the missing Anchor, it wasn't bad, really. The victory party had been fun, even if she'd needed to dust off an old spell for taking on human form to avoid attracting too much attention.

After so many Loops of being the ancient returning villain, it was refreshing to be the prophesied reborn heroine. And now, with the Dark Kingdom defeated and its queen safely imprisoned – though from her sifting though dreams she already could tell that the humans were a little concerned about the sudden appearance of a female face on their moon – she could start making longer term plans. Perhaps she could rebuild those old ruins up there to give herself a more comfortable place to call home? Or maybe she should just go public... the options seemed truly limitless.

That was when something opened above her head and deposited a creature on her back. Luna grabbed it with her magic and brought it to float in front of her.

The pink-maned alicorn filly started back at her, then giggled. “Yay! Hi, big sister!”

Luna broke into a smile. “Hello, Celestia,” she said. “I'm glad to see you.”

Loop 2.3

Sailor Pluto and Sailor Moon were in Sailor Moon's room, looking at each other as they considered the twist this particular Loop had thrown at them.

"Huh," said Pluto. "This one's different."

"It is, yes. I can give you some tips if you want, or else we can just see where this goes?" Replied Moon, more commonly known as Setsuna Tsukino.

Usagi Meiou tilted her head in consideration. "Might be fun to see what this changes."

Loop 2.4

"...welp," Usagi finally said. "You did it. You really did it. All loop native?"

Ami grinned. "Yep. I didn't even have to carry over from previous iterations!"

"....You really think this will work?"

"Oh yes."

The blonde girl threw up her hands. "Fine. Mecha versus Youma. Why not? Let's see what happens."

Loop 2.5

Luna boggled at the teenager. "But--"

"Absolutely not. I refuse to fight in a miniskirt." Usagi... well, Serena this loop, detransformed and started to get dressed. "I will still fight, of course, but not as some sort of swimsuit model."

"But-- magic! Armor! YOUMA!"

"I'll take my chances." Serena kept from looking back at the cat, knowing her huge smile would be a dead giveaway. Still... this was one of her more brilliant pranks. Well, it would be, if it worked....

Loop 2.6

"PEOPLE OF JAPAN! I AM SERENITY, QUEEN OF THE FORMER MOON KINGDOM! YOUR WORLD IS UNDER ATTACK BY THOSE WHO DESTROYED US! US FEW WHO SURVIVED OFFER OUR SERVICES AND ARE WILLING TO TRAIN YOUR MILITARY IN THE DEFENSE OF THIS REALM!"

Luna facepawed at the giant magical hologram of Sailor Moon in the sky. "This is never going to work."

\---

Five days later, Usagi munched on a rice ball and grinned as the soldiers in front of her tore into a youma.

The cat next to her blinked in shock. "But... but..."

"Don't ever underestimate earthlings, Luna." The teen reached into her bag and sighed. "Aw, out of rice balls. Anyway, we're launching to offensive against Beryl in three weeks. Any tips?"

"I... you... guns..."

Loop 2.7

"You're insane, Serenity, insane if you think the world will buckle under to your megalomaniac blackmail!"  
"And you're wrong, Mister Bond. You've been assuming that the ultimate goal of Selene Enterprises is world domination, or world OBLITERATION. No, my dear double-oh-seven, my objective is not to take over the wortd, it's a rather more precise and focused goal; settling an old score with an old enemy."  
With that the screens around the young female industrialist's lair lit up as the massive solar-powered energy weapons array in orbit fired a single precise shot into the Antarctic ice cap. Telemetry from a number of remote sensors showed several cubic miles of ice and rock vanishing in an act of total annihilation.  
"-and that's that! With minimal disruption to the rest of the polar ice cap. Take that, you bitch! And now, Mister Bond, we get around to tying up loose ends, starting with whatever are we going to do with you?"

Loop 2.8

Ikkuko Tsukino stared worriedly at the blond four year old in her living room. The cackling laugh coming out of her little girl's mouth was mildly disturbing, true, but what really worried her was the fact that Usagi had been laughing like this for almost half an hour; barely managing to calm down enough to take great, gasping gulps of air, only to start cackling again.

"Usagi? Sweetie?" Ikkuko knelt in front of her daughter on the floor, "What's so funny?"

The cackling died down to giggles and the toddler looked at her with bright blue eyes, said, "I'mona be a Madical Girl!" climbed to her feet, and toddled off, bursts of giggles still floating back to her stunned mother.

And from that day on, nothing Ikkuko or Kenji could do or say would convince their blond little girl anything differently.

Loop 2.9

Queen Beryl grinned to herself as she plotted her first assault on the reborn Moonites. At last she would have her vengeance on that harriden Serenity. At last, the prince would be hers--!

A blonde girl in long twin tails suddenly teleported into her sanctum, dumping a very confused young man at the stairs. "Yeah, so in this life I'm into redheads, and the thing is I don't want to marry somebody older then me. He's all yours!" With a smile and a wave, she vanished.

There was an awkward moment in the throne room.

"....soooooooo," Beryl eventually managed. "You've been rejected too, huh?"

The young man stood, looked around him, and coughed. "I... honestly have no idea what's going on here."

Loop 2.11

"Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?" Serena asked, careful to keep any recognition out of her face.

"Why, Serena, I came to see you," the black cat replied as she walked closer.

The blonde let out a dramatic gasp. "Oh wow! You're that cat from the alleyway, aren't you?"

That got a smile out of her 'unexpected' visitor. "I'm glad to see you remember. My name is Luna, and I have been searching for you for a very long time--"

"I bet you're hungry," Serena said as she suddenly stood up. "Why don't we go to the kitchen and get you some tuna?"

Luna blinked in confusion for a few moments, then shrugged and hopped down from the bed. "I suppose that would be nice. Anyway, as I was saying, you are the chosen one and I have been sent here to guide you on the path to your ultimate destiny. I wasn't sure if you--"

"Oh hold up. Mom would kill me if she knew I let in a stray." Serena turned around, picked up a very surprised Luna, and carfully put her back in her room. "Now stay right there, I'll be right back."

"But--You're the true sailor scout of the--!"

Serena quickly shut the door, giggling as she hopped down the stairs. Once she was sure she was out of Luna's range of sight, she powered up and teleported over to Molly's. With any luck, the poor moon cat would think she was an ordinary house cat within the week…

Loop 2.12(Ranma crossover)

Hotaru of the Chinese Amazons stared back at her great-grandmother for this Loop. Finally, she was in Nerima. While she could look forward to a year or so of total insanity and life-or-death battles, that wasn't all that different for a Sailor Senshi. At least in concept. This place had something of a reputation after all.

But while she still had a history of illness, she'd finally ended up with a history where it had been more-or-less overcome with a well-planned training regimen supplemented with medicine. And she had the martial skills to go with it, and the prospect of learning more so she could chase after the 'outsider' who had dishonored her.

It would be the first real serious martial training she'd gotten in the Loops.

Not that she had any real intention of killing Ranma in girl form with what she learned. Or marrying his guy form. Still, going after him with the Silence Glaive (on a non-lethal setting she'd figured out a while back and hadn't gotten around to telling anyone about) should be sufficient payback for 'accidentally' washing everyone's clothes, all of them, while they were in the hot springs during that one Love Hina fused Loop.

Loop 3.1

Hotaru Tomoe, also known as Sailor Saturn most Loops, Awoke in her home.

Or rather, some massive Darth Vaderesque iron lung type thing that she supposed was some kind of life support meant to aid her typical baseline health problems. Fortunately she'd gotten over the general health thing many Loops ago and after having a Nerima Loop, she was actually pretty fit for once.

'Okay, let's get out of this thing and see if I can't go have a life,' she thought to herself. Sure, she'd 'had a life' regularly for quite a few Loops, but given that her baseline teetered between a sickly host of an eldritch abomination's herald and the messiah of the apocalypse with no time for proper socializing, the novelty of being able to act like a normal girl hadn't really worn off yet. She didn't think it ever would.

First things first, check on her father and then go find Usagi. Maybe have her come cleanse her dad of daimon poisoning.

"*Burp*"

Right after she took care of the gas Mistress Nine kept giving her whenever she was in her native Loop.

\-----

"And I'm not sure, but I think my mom might be my dad's lab assistant Kaolinite," Hotaru continued.

"No worries," Usagi shrugged. "Naru's mom tends to be Beryl in these variants and we still get along just fine."

"What exactly's different about this variant?" Hotaru asked. Usagi had told her that it looked like it was just the two of them and Mamoru this time. And like many of the times they looped together, Usagi was happy to let her dictate how events progressed. Hotaru sometimes wondered how lonely it got for Usagi that letting her take charge was considered entertaining.

"Well, Rei's a hot latina bombshell who peppers her speech with spanish and likes to solve problems with fire," Usagi counted off her fingers, "Ami's a power gamer who likes to beat up the bad guys, with her wand if necessary, and tends to hook up with Makoto later on. Speaking of Makoto, she's even more of a badass in these variants than usual, a real heavy hitter. And Minako's ditziness is how she relieves stress from having been a lone tactical warrior for so long. She's really good though, so don't let it fool you. Oh, and Luna and Artemis tend to freak people out by talking in front of them. Plus monsters drop money and items like in an RPG. It's really kind of neat."

Hotaru blinked for a bit as she digested all of that.

"So how do you want to play it?" Usagi asked her.

"Well," Hotaru began, "I finally mastered how to use my powers without accidentally blowing up half the city, or worse the planet, so I'd like to be more than the super weapon this time around. See what it's like fighting 'normally', you know?"

"Okay!" Usagi chirped readily.

"Just like that?" the senshi of death blinked.

"Hey, I've been waiting for this a long time!" Usagi protested. "You're a great Sailor Scout! You should be able to fight alongside the rest of us and not worry about causing armageddon!"

\-----

Luna wondered why her spotty memories kept insisting Usagi's newest friend and fellow sailor scout was dangerous.

Sure, she'd gotten her henshin wand from an unspecified source, and Luna didn't recall a 'Sailor Saturn' supposedly being needed to find the princess, but the girl was about as much of a threat to the safety of the world as the tuna she kept bringing with her to these meetings.

Speaking of which, she really should finish eating.

\-----

Hotaru laughed out loud as the plane crashed into Jadeite. Sure, fighting on the same level as the others was hard, but at the same time it was oh so rewarding. The aches of her muscles and the adrenaline as she actually fought for her life instead of just obliterating everything in her path made her feel alive in a way she just couldn't get enough of.

\-----

At the Gates of Time, Sailor Pluto scowled. This would not do.

\-----

"Thank you for worrying about me!" Tuxedo mask appeared, dripping wet from his trip into the bay. "But I do not die so easily. You may each ask one question."

"Why do you always come to our rescue?" Mercury inquired tactically.

"¿Who are you, really?" Mars demanded.

"Do you like like me, or just like me?" Moon decided what the heck and stuck to the Loop's script like her boyfriend.

"...You're not actually going to answer any of these questions, are you?" Saturn posited rather insightfully.

"And that's all the time we have!" Tuxedo Mask proceeded to prove Saturn right as he turned to fly off into the setting moon. "Believe in yourselves! Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

"Called it," Saturn nodded sagely as Mercury and Mars sulked.

\-----

"Wait," Hotaru interrupted Usagi's breakdown of Ami's relationship with Ryo in the current style of variants, "if they're so in love now, why does Ami hook up with Makoto later?"

"Well, you know how after I beat Beryl I kind of rewind time?" Usagi began, "Well, in this variant, Ryo forgets about Ami and moves away. And this version of Ami decides not to pursue it."

"Right..." Hotaru pretended that made sense. "I guess I'm just surprised Ami's bi."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure everyone's bi to some extent in these variants," Usagi replied casually. "Heck, you should be too if you weren't already."

"I was," Hotaru admitted. "'Growing up' with Haruka and Michiru as 'parents' tends to make one open-minded about such things."

"I didn't know that," Usagi blinked.

"Oh, yes," Hotaru smiled slightly. "In fact, I think my first kiss was your future daughter that Loop she came back closer to my age."

"And now I don't want to talk about this anymore..."

Hotaru giggled inwardly as her friend and princess sweatdropped.

\-----

"Artemis," Luna hissed at the male moon cat before he could say anything regarding Sailor Saturn's presence as said senshi was introduced to Venus, "if you say anything that causes Saturn, the bringer of tuna, to be removed from this team, I will gut you like a fish."

"Yes, ma'am," Artemis shivered. He knew better to get between Luna and her favorite foods.

\-----

"Fire Glaive!" Saturn yelled as she cleaved the youma-of-the-week in twain with a blazing energy wave from the weapon Mars had ignited for her.

"Okay," Artemis allowed, "I admit she's a good addition to the team. I'm puzzled as to why I thought otherwise."

"Told you," Luna smirked.

\-----

"HOLY DIVINE CRAP IT'S FREAKING COLD HERE!" Moon yelled as the six Sailor Senshi stepped into a polar blizzard. "Don't these uniforms come in winter versions?! With trousers! Trousers and a jacket! And a hat! A pretty beret would fit the theme. I decree hats for everyone! Because it's freaking cold here!"

Saturn would have said something, but she was too busy trying not to think about the cold, and her princess wasn't making that task any easier.

"Of course it's cold, princesa," Mars rolled her eyes, "it's a blizzard at the North Pole. We're all cold."

'Thank you, Mars,' Saturn sniped mentally and ceded her resistance to her need to shiver.

"South Pole!" Moon insisted. "Santa Claus wouldn't let the Dark Kingdom set up shop at the North Pole! Mercury, help me out here!"

"Right!" Mercury scanned the surrounding area. "I think I've located the Dark Kingdom's base. As well as something I can't seem to get a firm reading on..."

"I thought your tricorder could detect everything?" Jupiter questioned.

Mercury tapped something on her visor. "It can, but I haven't managed to analyze some of the more esoteric things it scans for. The manual's pretty thick, even for me. Here it comes..."

Out of the blizzard stepped a tanned woman in a sailor outfit like theirs. Black was the color of the skirt and bows and her long forest green hair cascaded down her back in waves. Held in her hands was a staff shaped suspiciously like a key at one end and with a garnet orb set into a heart shape at the other.

"Who...?" Venus blinked in confusion.

"¿Are you another sailor here to help?" Mars questioned the newcomer while Moon seemed to gape comically.

"With the Dark Kingdom, no," the woman declared. "Beryl and her forces are foes you are Destined to face alone. I am instead here to set right the course of History by purging the grave danger within your own ranks."

"What?" Jupiter recoiled as if slapped. "But none of us–"

"She means me," Saturn interrupted with a sigh as she stepped forward.

"Indeed," the mystery sailor known as Pluto to only the two loopers present declared. "You were never meant to awaken to your powers Saturn. Time itself has been twisted and your status with the team is one of the symptoms that must be corrected if it is to be put back on its proper course. Every moment you remain a member of the senshi places all of reality in grave danger."

"¡Like hell!" Mars yelled defiantly. "¡She's our friend and ally, mujer demonio! ¡If you want her, you have to go through us!"

"Agreed!" Mercury took up a fighting stance along with Venus and Jupiter. "Saturn is no more a threat to reality than any of us!"

"No," Saturn refused sadly. "All of you are needed to rescue Endymion and defeat Beryl. Besides, I knew something like this was coming. I've been getting memories of my past life too, and they support what she's saying. I was supposed to be a weapon of last resort, hopefully never needing to be activated. Even now I can feel a dark and dangerous power sleeping beneath the surface of my soul. I knew that, eventually, someone would come to deal with me."

It was true in a way. She'd spent pretty much every Loop up to this point learning how to limit the power she had so that she could actually fight at the level most battles the senshi engaged in were at. And then training her body up so that she neither collapsed from the strain or felt the temptation to 'up the ante'. And in several of her Loops where she decided to try and come forth as a sailor early, Pluto would show up like this and try to make her go back to being the Hotaru who was an unwitting pawn of the Daimons in the name of preserving the timeline.

Those versions of Sailor Pluto were the worst kind of Loop Aware entity. The kind who believed in a singular progression of events and could justify any act in the name of 'preserving the timeline'. The term 'Setsuna Syndrome' which described such behavior was coined after the woman's civilian identity after all. But even though Saturn had expected that something like this could happen, that didn't mean she liked it.

"Saturn..." Moon began sympathetically, and the senshi in question was heartened that none of her Unawake friends seemed frightened or in any way repulsed by her. If anything, it looked like their resolve to fight Pluto in her defense was even stronger than before.

"I've had a great time fighting alongside all of you," she continued. "Hanging out, playing games, even studying despite the fact that you're all older and a few grades ahead. You're the best friends I could hope for. In any lifetime."

Saturn could see unshed tears in the eyes of the others even as Pluto gazed on impassionately.

"But this is my fight," she declared firmly. "Yours is ahead. Go on. I'll catch up with you. Promise."

Moon looked ready to insist otherwise, and she wasn't the only one, but Saturn met her Anchor's gaze and tried to convey silently how important this was to her.

"If you're sure....." Moon finally relented. "Just... be safe and come back to us."

The other four sailors nodded and followed Moon past Pluto and into the blizzard.

"It is good to see that you accept the way things must be," Pluto nodded. "Rest assured that your friends will not suffer painful memories of their time with you. When I am finished, it will be as if you never met."

Saturn took a battle stance that Cologne had drilled into her last Loop during her time in Nerima and brandished the Silence Glaive threateningly.

"I never said I was coming quietly, Pu," she glared, and managed to suppress a smirk as Pluto winced at the nickname.

"Where did you hear that name?" Pluto looked furious.

"Nowhere," Saturn insisted. "You just look like a 'Pu'."

"Soon it won't matter," Pluto took her own battle stance.

"Hey, we agree on something," Saturn smirked in a way Ranma-sempai would approve of.

"Dead Scream."

\-----

"I changed my mind," Moon spoke up suddenly. She hated this part of the baseline. No matter how many times it happened, or how often she made it better afterwards, it never really stopped hurting any less and she'd been hoping that bringing Saturn along would let a less painful variant of baseline events play out. And then miss 'I'm just preserving the timeline' Pluto had to go and mess it all up. "We shouldn't have left her. I need to go ba–"

"INCOMING!" Mercury warned as she picked up multiple strong hostiles, cutting off further debate.

'Damnit Hotaru!' Moon cursed mentally. 'Why did you have to make me and Mamoru promise to stick to baseline powers?!'

\-----

The battle was surprisingly even. Pluto was more powerful and more experienced than the other senshi of this time, and she had put together a proper contingency in case Saturn unleashed the fullness of her power in response to her 'request'.

But Saturn was refusing to play by the book. Instead she was bounding around with a level of martial skill that Pluto would have scarcely believed possible for any of the younger senshi, especially not one who had received formal training in neither her past incarnation nor her current one.

"You are dangerous," Pluto told her adversary again as they clashed weapon-to-weapon. "Your power is not meant to be activated lightly. Any use of it could potentially destroy the world. You cannot battle at this level. Why do you insist on doing so?"

Pluto blocked another melee strike from the Silence Glaive with her Garnet Rod, and idly wondered how her weapon was managing to stand up to the more destructive artifact. She kicked Saturn off of her and prepared to send another Dead Scream her way, only for Saturn to flip over in the air and land on her feet, battle ready.

"Because when I was made to be Saturn, your precious Silver Millenium scientists made sure I had only three options in battle!" Saturn returned hotly, what seemed to be repressed ire boiling over. "Punch, kick, and blow up the damn planet!"

"Dead Scream," Pluto retorted, firing the orb of entropic wind energy.

"Cutting Glaive!" Saturn responded with a vacuum blade from her weapon that cancelled out Pluto's attack.

"Why do you limit yourself to such a weak offense?" Pluto inquired. It was bugging her, really. This 'Cutting Glaive' assault was multiple orders of magnitude below what Saturn's weakest attack should be capable of. "You were made to level armadas that spanned the solar system and slay foes the size of planets. You should not be struggling this much against a single opponent like myself."

"Because I hate being the superweapon that's always kept under lock and key and only brought out when all other hope is lost," Saturn glared back, breathing heavily. "I hate it so much that I taught myself how to hold it all back and not let go unless I want to. I learned how to tame the Silence. Every battle, every blow, I've held back the end of the world by sheer force of will, and it gets easier every time. You're right, my power wants to wipe you off the face of the planet, but that's not what I want."

"What you want is irrelevant," Pluto declared. "Time is broken and you must be returned to your proper place in coming events if it is to be repaired. Accept your fate. Dead Scream."

Instead of retaliating, Saturn flung her arms wide as if to embrace the attack instead and let it strike her, sending her flying across the ice to impact against a convenient protrusion.

Pluto stared in utter disbelief. That... had been way too easy. She walked over cautiously to look at the fallen senshi, wary of some sort of trick. As she approached, Saturn coughed up blood, but did not rise. She opened her senses and could tell... this was no illusion.

"I do not understand your sudden change of opinion," Pluto said to her fallen foe, "but I am glad you have accepted your place in things."

"I haven't," Saturn coughed. "Just proving a point."

"And what point would that be?" Pluto asked, genuinely curious.

"First, that I really can control the power I was given," Saturn wheezed. "If there was any chance I could lose control and give in to the destructive urges then this would be it. Second, that you're so unreasonable this is the only way you'd ever listen."

"I am the guardian of time," Pluto replied.

"That's not a 'no'," Saturn smiled weakly. "You see, you're not the only one with foreknowledge. I and Moon both knew how events would play out."

"But the princess has shown no knowledge of–" Pluto began.

"Because I asked her not to," Saturn cut her off. "Nor to otherwise forestall events. Because I knew that she and the other senshi would come here and all but her would die."

Pluto's eyes widened. "How...?"

"You were right, time is broken," Saturn told her quietly as she bled onto the ice, "but you can't fix it. This isn't the first time I've gone through events and it won't be the last. The princess has been going longer than I have. Much longer. She told me about everything, including that you sometimes get like this and try to force things to go the way you think they should. You've even succeeded a few times, but time remains broken. The Loop remains in place."

"Yet I must do all in my power to repair it," Pluto told her fallen adversary. "Eventually I will succeed."

"The version of you that remembers, the one who's Awake, would slap you for your arrogance," Saturn's words startled her. "That's right, you're caught up in this too. The infinite Loops of a broken multiverse, with final repairs nowhere in sight. I'll even remember this the next time I'm Awake. You won't."

"Say I believe you," Pluto turned the girl's words over in her mind. No hint of deceit. She believed what she said. "It does not explain why you would willingly die this time."

"Haven't I said?" Saturn coughed weakly, clearly nearing her end. "I'm quitting the outers. This is my resignation."

Pluto went rigid as her veins felt like they'd been filled with the ice surrounding them both.

"I should thank you, I suppose. I was uncertain of how I'd pull it off believably. You know as well as I that the inners bonded over this event, more closely than anyone else could manage. They all died for the princess and were later restored by her with the Silver Crystal. They bonded over their sacrifice. The only way to be a part of that was to die alongside them as well, buying time for the princess to make it to Beryl."

"I can still place you back in your proper role," Pluto told her.

"You're welcome to try," Saturn smiled as the pain receded and she stopped holding on to life so tightly, "But you'll fail. I'll still remember and so will she. I have to go now. I promised to catch up with a friend after all."

\-----

Moon stumbled and collapsed as she felt the last of her friends fade from life out in the icy wastes.

'Even Saturn?' echoed through her mind. She'd been counting on Hotaru to help stop this from happening, and now even she'd fallen?

She hated this part of her baseline. It was the one thing she derailed the most in the Loops. The only thing she hated more was breaking a promise to a friend, and Saturn had been so insistent that she stick to baseline abilities for the variant.

"Why?" she asked the air around her, and felt a hand touch her shoulder. Funny, Makoto was taller than that...

"Because I wanted to be a part of this," she heard Hotaru's voice and turned to see the girl in full Saturn garb standing, transparent over her.

"Damnit! I didn't give you permission to die!" Moon yelled at the apparition.

"So you didn't," the spectre of Hotaru smiled serenely. "But here I am. Just like any of the inners."

"Not bad," Makoto manifested next to Hotaru in her Jupiter form, "though you could have just submitted an application."

"Hey Usagi," Ami as Mercury grinned next to Rei and Minako in their Mars and Venus garb, just as spectral as the other two. "Guess who just Woke Up."

"Great, another variant with a thick spanish accent," Rei grumbled. She'd never managed to suppress that.

"I'm trying to have an emotional breakdown here!" Moon huffed.

"Aww..." Minako hugged her princess. "Don't be sad. We all know you'll put us back to rights again. Hopefully without the memory suppression."

"Actually..." Hotaru cut in.

"¡¿You want to have your memory erased?!" Rei shouted incredulously.

"I want to be one of you," Hotaru told them. "I want to be a defender of Love and Justice instead of the doomsday superweapon. And I want to do it properly, which means the whole baseline inner senshi package. Dying at D-Point, losing my memories of the year where we fought the Dark Kingdom, and–"

"And getting them back with the rest of us because we can't stay away from this life," Ami finished for her with a grin.

"I like this plan!" Minako cheered. "It's been a while since we went baseline, and we've got a new member to induct!"

Rei looked at Makoto who shrugged amicably before responding. "Eh, ¿why not?"

"You're all insane," Moon smiled as she ran towards her showdown with Beryl. Hotaru wanted the full baseline inner senshi package? She'd get it, and full membership in perpetuity.

\-----

"…¿Have we met?" Rei asked suddenly. These other girls seemed so familiar.

"…I… I don't think so," the blue-haired girl replied, looking uncertain.

"We must have met somewhere before," the blonde insisted. "Same class or something."

"Then how do I fit in?" the petite girl with the short purple hair asked. It was a good question since she was clearly younger than the others.

"I'm not sure... Hotaru, Right?" the tall brunette asked, getting a nod before turning to Rei. "And you're Rei?"

"Hola," the priestess replied. "And you're– I want to say, ¿Matoko?"

"Makoto," the brunette corrected.

"And you'd be Mina...?" Hotaru asked the blonde girl.

"Minako," the blonde replied absently before turning to the last girl. "And you're Ami."

"Yes…" the bluenette looked surprised.

"I'm finding this freaky," Hotaru declared. "And my dad likes to laugh like a mad scientist for fun."

"¿Fate?" Rei questioned.

"I'm with the squirt," Makoto jerked her thumb at the younger Hotaru as an uneasy silence fell over the group.

"'You all meet in a tavern,'" Ami suddenly piped up.

"Ha!" Minako barked. "Everyone watch out for a mysterious old man with a map."

"He'll probably be hanging out in a shadowy corner under a full-body cloak," Hotaru nodded.

Rei and Makoto traded confused looks. Made all the more confused by the fact that they felt certain they should know what the others were talking about.

\-----

Rei looked at her finger in confusion. Had she just tried to blast the monster with a finger pistol?

"Looks like you four would have figured it out without my interference," a voice interjected, "so I might as well–"

"TALKING CAT! TALKING CAT!" Minako freaked.

"…God, give me strength," a black cat with a crescent moon mark on its head sighed.

"What's going on, kitty?" Hotaru asked, trying to suppress the urge to cuddle the feline. Deal with mortal danger first, then give into the cuteness.

"You're all about to get a big headache, and then save Sailor Moon's tuckus," the cat told them. "LOOK INTO MY EYES."

They looked, and were blindsided as their memories returned. All of them. It was a good thing those memories hadn't technically been removed or their heads might have exploded instead of just feeling like they had.

\-----

"You didn't have to throw me a party," Hotaru blinked at the streamers and decorations declaring her an official member of the inner senshi.

"Sure we did!" Minako exclaimed. "What else am I supposed to do with these party munitions I got from Pinkie?"

"Who?" Hotaru asked.

"We've got to get you into an Equestria Loop at some point," Minako nodded sagely. "You'd make a good pony."

Hotaru's eyes went big and shiny as she processed that and realized there was a whole Loop of ponies somewhere out in the multiverse.

\-----

"Wow, I don't remember Chibi-Usa being such a brat..." Hotaru blinked at what she was seeing.

"You don't usually meet her around Usagi," Rei confirmed, "plus she tends to mellow a bit after the whole Wiseman aventura."

"Right," Hotaru nodded. "I'm used to hiding from Pluto during this section."

All the rest gave her a look.

"What?" she defended herself. "I like her too, but she's usually not very friendly with me until after I've been proven innocent of being the harbinger of the end times. I'm still a little confused as to why she hasn't tried to railroad me again this Loop."

"Probably because Chibi-Usa still exists," Ami offered. "We've found that a lot of what she does to 'preserve the timeline' is really to ensure that Chibi-Usa is born in the future. Which is kind of silly if you ask me. She manages to get born even in the variants where Usagi doesn't marry Mamoru."

\-----

"Yes! Critical success!" Saturn cheered as the showdown against Wiseman, aka Death Phantom, happened a short distance away.

"Wow," Mercury blinked. "And with that, the eldritch abomination's head is parted from its body and dissolves into harmless shadows, the poison infecting the land going along with it."

"Huh," Jupiter grunted. "I was half expecting Venus to end everything in an epic botch." 'Again.'

"Yamandakka!"

\-----

"Hotaru?" Usagi asked. "I cleansed your parents of daimon infection, right? Both timelines?"

"That's what I remember," Hotaru replied. "Though I think they're still trying to locate the Grail anyway, just to stop the invasion instead of help it. They'd apparently already formed the Death Busters though, and I couldn't tell you who's in charge."

"Okay," Usagi nodded. "I was just wondering why the daimons were still showing up, but that explains it."

\-----

"Entrusting the future to the next generation," Michiru sighed melancholily. "I suppose that's one way to live."

"But we have no time left," Haruka moped next to her sort-of-maybe-not-really-but-actually-really-for-real-but-we'll-deny-it love. "The silence is coming…"

"Hi there!" Hotaru popped up between the two very suddenly, causing the civilian identities of Uranus and Neptune to fall over in shock.

Hotaru giggled to herself. Giving those two a near heart attack wasn't very nice, but how was she supposed to ignore a cue like that? Besides, whether or not they raised her after she reincarnated in the baseline, she still owed those two a number of good pranks for trying to kill her.

\-----

"Wait, you're giving the Grail to me?" Saturn looked incredulous as the rift to Pharaoh 90's dimension pulsed ominously above.

"You wanted the full inner package, right?" Moon asked. "Well, I've given the Grail and the resultant Crisis Make Up super modes to the other inners over the course of the Loops, so it's your turn. Besides, unlike the others you really are the messiah."

"The messiah of Silence," Saturn reminded her. "You know, the destroyer of all?"

"That was then," Usagi insisted. "This is now. I believe in you. You can do this."

Saturn stared back at her princess before taking a deep breath and accepting the empowering artifact and holding it aloft as she spoke the activation phrase.

"SATURN CRISIS, MAKE UP!"

Pharaoh 90 never stood a chance.

Loop 3.2

Some people have a problem falling asleep while driving, Today Mamoru Chiba is having…other issues.

Like waking up.

“Crap Crap crap!!!" Tree, Bush, old lady, treeeeee!! *SCREEEEEECH*

"Ibuki, are you ok. We nearly crashed.”

******

Ok. Take in surrounding, on bike, small female arms beside me,  
and a quick look in the rear view….

That’s not Usagi…or chibi. Lord why is it always young women…Akira, her names Akira and I'm...

****

“We have to hurry there still an attack going on.”

Ok, memories starting to come in..Youma, no Makamou. I can deal with monsters.

“Yeah sorry just hold on a bit”, as I get us back on the road.

“Are you lost, cause that would be as bad as Hibiki sempai gets”  
Ryoga’s here,? no, no memories are giving me that..an older man. Solid, Dependable…Trained very well.

“No,no Akira, just give me the directions again," I tell her.

++++++++

Thankfully by the time we arrive a lot more memories have filtered in.  
Mamoru ponders as he and Akira pull up to lake.

Looks like I was adopted this time by a fairly high up couple. The Car crash was caused by these Kaijin.  
I glace at my phone. The date is just before the dark kingdom shows up normally.

Mamoru…no Ibuki, remember finally adopted this time, he thinks, this is going to be so sweet.

“Kamen indeed”, he mutters under his breath. Oh the looks on the Outer's faces, always with a smart remark about how weak he is. No matter what, I am going to train and keep this. Time to up the ante.

“Ibuki” bring up the whistle with the demons face up to his lips.

And blows ...”Henshin”

Loop 3.3

Minako gasped as she was thrown against the wall, wincing as she stood back up. Artemis had warned her about this, but even so, things weren't looking good. She managed to raise her eyes back up to the five youma grinning at her, watching with dread as...

Wait. Where was the sixth one?

"'Sup, bitches!"

What looked for all the world to be a tiger woman from some underground manga jumped out of nowhere, a two-headed spear of ice already crystalizing in her hands and stabbing through one of the youma before could react. Minako watched in shock as the spear ripped up through the youma's skull, an expression of sheer confusion on its now bifrucated face in the split second it took for it to dissolve into dust. The cat girl was already moving toward her next target, her short green hair whisking out as she dodged a clawed wipe before responding with an icy punch of her own. She twirled and sent a blast of frost toward the youma trying to sneak up on her, freezing it sollid before throwing her spear and shattering the creature into a million bits.

Minako gasped. "BEHIND YOU!"

The cat-woman didn't even spare a glance, bounding into a forward roll and dodging the attacks of the other two remaining Youma. The first one shook the flakes of ice off its face as it rose with a growl, a cone of fire brsting from its throat at the place where the feline fighter had been only two seconds ago. It was completely surprised when a freezing paw wrapped around its throat, ice forming with an audible crackle. The cat woman tugged its head off with an audible snap, tossing it at the two remaining demons moments before it disintegrated into dust and blinded them. They were totally unprepared for two more freezing blasts, and shattered as easily as their fallen brother had.

With a grunt, Minako pushed herself into a standing position. "Wow. Thanks for... that. There were six of them though..."

"Yeah, well, I felt a little loopy all of the sudden." The cat-woman turned to her with a big smirk.

"...Hold on." The sailor senshi put herself in a defensive position. "If you're saying you're one of them--"

"Easy there, girl, I'm not going to hurt you." The cat woman held up her hands. "My name's Tiger and... look, I gotta get to Japan and tell my little sis I woke up."

"...Were you in a coma?"

"Something like that."

Loop 3.4

Naru Osaka was having a weird day. She'd woken up a few years in the past, with it being the day Usagi had found Luna. She was confused, and now that she thought about it, Usagi herself seemed a bit different. Sure, she acted like her usual crybaby self, but Naru knew her friend well enough to see some differences. Hopefully, all that had happened was just a dream.

"Curse my luck!" 

It wasn't a dream. The monster that had replaced her mother was back, even though she knew Sailor Moon had killed the thing. It was as if she was relieving her past, but that was impossible, right? On cue, Sailor Moon showed up, as Naru remembered in whatever she'd experienced. 

However, she just used her tiara move instantly to kill the thing, no speech or anything like Naru knew the Senshi loved to do. As the imposter of Naru's mother faded away, Naru asked Sailor Moon, "What's going on? History is repeating itself for me. I've had this happen before, but you didn't act like you did the first time." 

Sailor Moon frowned, a sad look on her face. "I didn't want you trapped in the Loops like this. Guess it was a matter of time, though...And time's the one thing I have." With that, Sailor Moon removed an odd wooden stick, chanting something. 

And then she powered down. 

"Usagi? YOU'RE Sailor Moon? What in the name of..." Usagi smiled. "I'm sorry about lying for so long, but there's no changing that now.Well, time to explain things to you. Let me tell you about Yggdrasil..."

After Usagi explained the Loops to her old friend, as well as her role as one of the 'Original Seven', Naru grumbled, "Why didn't this happen sooner?" Usagi shrugged. 

"Beats me. I've tried to tell you before, but when the next Loop began, you didn't remember. But, I'm glad you've Awakened, Naru. I'd ask if you'd try and stay out of trouble, but that isn't likely." Naru chuckled at that. "With Youma considering me a good target? I doubt it!" The two friends enjoyed the joke. Naru realized she was now a part of something she never dreamed possible.


End file.
